The present disclosure relates to ground movement of aircraft, and more particularly to an aircraft tug which moves an aircraft to a desired location without use of aircraft engine power.
Aircraft engine power is almost exclusively used to taxi aircraft, typically to or from a runway. Operation of the aircraft engines in a ground environment may be relatively loud and, when used to provide aircraft ground movement, may burn relatively large quantities of fuel.
Vehicles often referred to as a tug are typically utilized to facilitate the ground movement of aircraft. The tug is a small manned vehicle which couples to the aircraft nose gear such that the vehicle may push or tow the aircraft. The tug commonly utilizes a separate tow bar system for attachment to the aircraft nose gear. The most typical use for aircraft tugs is pushback from the terminal gate and to tow an aircraft for maintenance operations.